Executive year to 5 very famous folks- Business journal

Executive of the Year: Narrowing down the candidates to 5

Silicon Valley Business Journal by Cromwell Schubarth, Senior Technology Reporter

Date: Monday, December 31, 2012, 12:08pm PST - Last Modified: Friday, January 4, 2013, 4:32pm PST

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Bloomberg

Oracle CEO Larry Ellison made plenty of headlines this year, but much of it was personal, not professional.

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Cromwell Schubarth

Senior Technology Reporter- Silicon Valley Business Journal

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Now that most of the holidays are behind us, let the countdown to the Business Journal’s Executive of the Year begin. The answer will be revealed this Friday.
So far we have told you who it wasn’t, although it may seem obvious, we admit, that it won’t be any of the previous honorees: Cisco Systems CEO John Chambers, former VMware CEO Paul Maritz, Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk and his cousins, SolarCity co-founders Peter and Lyndon Rive. (View a slide show of where those winners are today, here.)
That doesn’t mean the Executive of the Year will never be a repeater. Never say never, right? Especially in Silicon Valley.
We gave you six CEO names on Friday to think over: Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, Yahoo’s Marissa Mayer, Google’s Larry Page, LinkedIn’s Jeff Weiner, Oracle’s Larry Ellison, and Apple’s Tim Cook.
Now it’s time to explain why it isn’t Ellison, one of the most powerful business people in the world today.
Oracle’s business software remains the dominant choice of many companies, and Ellison has amassed a huge fortune as one of the richest tech figures in Silicon Valley.
But the most significant things he did this year were connected to that wealth and his hobbies, not to the company he built in Redwood City.
That would be buying a Hawaiian island and the very expensive capsizing of his America’s Cup racing boat in San Francisco Bay.
Not really Executive of the Year stuff, is it?
So that leaves us with Facebook’s Zuckerberg, LinkedIn’s Weiner, Google’s Page, Apple’s Cook and Yahoo’s Mayer.
Check back on Wednesday when we will eliminate another contender.
Meanwhile, let's talk about this. On Twitter, use #SVExec12 and tell us why you think Ellison got cut. Were we right or wrong in knocking him out? Join the conversation on Facebook, too.
Find out who got the hook next here as we count down to the 2012 Executive of the year.

Cromwell Schubarth is the Senior Technology Reporter at the Business Journal. His phone number is 408.299.1823.